


laddie

by hearmyvoice



Series: Team Uncle Week 2020 [5]
Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Adventure Gone Wrong, Background Duck Family, Caring Scrooge McDuck, Family Fluff, Gen, Hurt Donald Duck, Kinda, Louie Duck Needs a Hug, Team Uncle Week, Team Uncle Week 2020 (Disney)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-29
Updated: 2020-10-29
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:53:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27278296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hearmyvoice/pseuds/hearmyvoice
Summary: Donald disappears during an adventure.
Relationships: Della Duck & Dewey Duck & Huey Duck & Louie Duck, Dewey Duck & Donald Duck & Huey Duck & Louie Duck, Donald Duck & Scrooge McDuck
Series: Team Uncle Week 2020 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1943812
Comments: 2
Kudos: 122
Collections: Team Uncle Week 2020





	laddie

**Author's Note:**

> day 5. physical affection.

"Uncle Donald! Where are you?!" Huey's voice echoed off the walls of the temple they stood in, and the absence of an answer made Scrooge more uneasy than it should.

It wasn't supposed to be like this, he didn't even know when it happened. It was supposed to be a family adventure: him, the twins, the triplets, Webby and Launchpad. This time it was a Chinese temple, but honestly? Scrooge could no longer remember what they were looking for this time.

Something had gone wrong, and when they least expected it Donald had disappeared.

"Come on Uncle Donald, this isn't funny anymore." Dewey raised his voice, hoping, praying, that it was all a practical joke from his uncle to give them a silly lesson about being more careful in an unfamiliar place or something like that. But they knew better.

Well, Donald wasn't exactly the prankster type, but he was less capable of some of the most infamous; especially if it caused the children to be terrified in such that way. Boy, if he knew how terrified the four of them were, the lad would appear in a second, cooing four frightened ducklings. They would even hear him scream, giving away his location so that he would take it upon himself to find him.

It was like a pattern they followed in every adventure since the twins were kids, but now his nephew _didn't_ show up and the kids were a mess.

"I want Uncle Donald," Louie cried, pulling his hoodie up. He looked smaller than he already was.

"Easy son, I'm sure we'll find him soon." Della, for her part, approached her sons at a slow pace, spreading both hands in a placating gesture. Her hands were about to brush the youngest triplet's shoulders as he jerked away, clinging to his brothers who knows when they appeared.

"I don't want him _soon_ , I want it now," he pleaded, weakly tugging at the laces of his garment, and the adventurer winced at the familiarity of the gesture.

His nephew used to do the same after a bad day, cheering his mother back in a tantrum that had the boy in tears. And as such, that was the plea of a child who needed their father.

Della seemed to notice the same because she gave him a glance, a flickering sparkle in her eyes at her silent request from the corner of her eye: you look for Donald, I'll take care of the children, and Scrooge found himself nodding without thinking twice before doing what he was supposed to have done as soon as he discovered his nephew's absence and silently praying that both his niece and Launchpad would manage to reassure the children while he looked for the only person that could do it with just his presence.

* * *

Scrooge could not be sure how long he explored the temple, it was large despite its antiquity and he refused to see his pocket watch because it was to recognize the minutes he had not found his nephew, his son.

To tell the truth, he was mostly retracing his steps. It was the easiest way to find the boy since he rarely left that point where he was lost, an old rule that he had gotten used to growing up and for which he was grateful, because it made work easier, even if it did not diminish the worry tickling the back of his neck.

Deep down, he could not forgive herself if something happened to the duckling that for years he strove to protect, and blessed Hortense's soul what would she say after knowing that something happened to one of her kids under his care.

But Scrooge couldn't let that happen. In one way or another, those twins had known how to become his world, like a pair of threads that held and grounded him.

Perhaps it was because of that that he managed to understand how much the triplets meant to Donald and how much Donald meant to their nephews. But just at the moment when he even thinks of his nephew's name, he feels again that thread that holds him to the lad, pulling hard, detecting the extra pressure he applied.

And he smiled with pride, knowing that he should not lose faith in him, following that invisible path for someone outside of him.

Before he knew it, he was running toward a crouching sailor, hissing painfully.

"Donnie!" He exclaimed in a tearful voice, stopping suddenly. The duck looked up, and the Scotsduck found himself recoiling at the pale face.

But when the aforementioned opened his beak, no words came out and he made that pained grimace on his face. Scrooge gulped, putting his hand on her shoulder in silent support.

"Wha' happened?" He murmured in a low volume, clutching Donald to his chest and feeling his shoulders relax at the texture of the sailor getup.

The youngest duck tensed for a moment, before their hands meet on his bent leg.

Scrooge immediately noticed the scrapes and small bruises that had formed there. But to his side, Scrooge perceived a gem: the treasure they had traveled from Duckburg for. It glowed a sickly greenish color, and the alien body trembled.

Whatever it was, it affected his nephew, and the thread that held it became weaker and more prone to breaking, and it was Scrooge's cue to throw said treasure away after Donald's surprised look.

"I's nae worth it if it does this tae ye," he argued as if it were an obvious fact, taking Donald in his arms as if it were the most common thing in the world.

The duck was lighter than he remembered, but he would bring it up with him later and he was sure of that, grossly ignoring said duck's scowl. His primary interest was to take him to the nephews and review the consequent injuries.

"Unca Scrooge," he murmured wearily and with a hoarse voice after a few minutes, and Scrooge's eyes widened as he met Donald's. They had a glow he couldn't quite recognize, and his dark circles were more noticeable than usual. It seemed that he was seeing a child again when he smiled at him, with evident exhaustion, "thanks for coming for me."

Scrooge blinked owlishly for a moment, before smiling warmly and kissing Donald's forehead, giggling at his nephew's groan. He was sure he would appreciate that moment more than he should.

"Until th' end oaf th' world, laddie."


End file.
